EPA Officials Address Community Concerns Surrounding the Reef Environmental Site in Sylacauga, AL

(ATLANTA – January 10, 2013) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emergency response personnel along with representatives from the Agency for Toxics Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) will hold a public meeting on Tuesday, January 15, 2013, at 6 p.m. at the J. Craig Smith Community Center in Sylacauga, AL to discuss next steps in addressing environmental concerns at the REEF LLC Facility. EPA, ATSDR, and ADEM representatives will be available to discuss the on-going and future activities at the Reef facility.

WHO: EPA, ATSDR, and ADEM

WHAT: Public Meeting

WHEN: Tuesday, January 15, 2013, 6:00 p.m.

WHERE: J. Craig Smith Community Center

2 West 8th StreetSylacauga, AL

The Reef LLC facility located at 71 Twin Street, Sylacauga, Alabama was a centralized industrial waste water treatment facility. The facility was permitted to accept waste water and oily waste from other industries for treatment and discharge to a public operated treatment works (POTW) in Sylacauga. Shortly after the first waste deliveries began, local and state government officials received numerous odor complaints. Subsequent assessments identified unstable conditions relating of accumulating gases (organic and hydrogen sulfide) under a tarp/liner over the Biological Treatment Basin at the facility and an oily sheen being released from the facility as well as abandoned hazardous chemicals both on the facility grounds and in the onsite facility lab.

For more information contact EPA Community Involvement CoordinatorKerisa Coleman (404) 562-8831 or (877) 718-3752 or by email to Coleman.Kerisa@epa.gov, or EPA On-Scene Coordinator David Andrews (404) 562-8763 or by email to Andrews.David@epa.gov.